Numerous tools exist for monitoring and managing events on a network. Such tools are used extensively in Network Operations Centers (NOCs). Available tools use, for example, Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), command line interfaces to network components, and other access methods, go gather and present status information, event messages, and alarms from the various elements deployed throughout a network. Typically, the element information collected in this manner is presented on one or more consoles in the NOC.
As element information from managed network domains are collected and aggregated, it is forwarded to higher level network control elements, where data from a plurality of network segments and domains may be concentrated. The volume of data involved in this process may be sufficiently large that a plurality of processors are required to handle it. One problem that has arisen in such installations is that of efficiently and reliably balancing the processing workload among these higher-level control elements.